As Big Ten & Ivy League impose sports limits, NMSU awaits fate of football season

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- The Big Ten Conference won’t play non-conference games in football or other sports this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The league made the announcement on Thursday citing medical advice, but also added the caveat that that’s only “if the Conference is able to participate in fall sports.”

The announcement came a day after the Ivy League Conference canceled sporting events until at least January.

At New Mexico State University, all of the athletic programs are in the Western Athletic Conference except football.

If other conferences also decide to end their fall athletic programs, it could have a huge impact on Aggie athletics, especially in funding.

"We've got two big guarantee games with UCLA and Florida that total over $2.5 million and while I can't speak for UNM and UTEP, I'm sure that would affect their budgets tremendously as well if those games cannot be played," said NMSU Athletic Director Mario Moccia.

For now, he believes patience is the best path before making a decision.

"I think its a little too early to assign this as a tectonic shift in the plates, so to speak, but we are certainly monitoring everything that's coming out," Moccia said. "As far as a drop dead deadline, by the end of this month or very early August we will all know what the plan is."